A Carmel mother and daughter were found guilty Wednesday of elder abuse by Monterey County Superior Court Judge Terrance R. Duncan.

Lisa MacAdams, 53, and Christi Schoenbachler, 30, will be sentenced Jan. 15 and face a maximum penalty of four years and eight months in prison, officials said.

The victim is MacAdams’ mother – and Schoenbachler’s grandmother – and was abandoned at the Monterey Care Center after the pair took over all her finances, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said.

In 2002, when the victim was 72, she moved with her daughter to Monterey County, officials said. She had money from the sale of her mobile home, about $90,000, along with furniture, artwork and jewelry valued up to $200,000.

By July 2004, the victim’s bank account had been drained, officials said. Her annuity had been cashed out and all her personal possessions had been sold off.

Schoenbachler and MacAdams were charged with felony violations of grand theft and financial elder abuse by a caretaker. They were also charged with two misdemeanor counts of inflicting unjustifiable mental suffering on an elder for twice abandoning the victim in a residential facility

The Georgetown Senior Center is at the First Congregational Church on Andover Street. For more information about programs, call the Council on Aging office at 978-352-5726.

Elder abuse program Dec. 8:

The Elder Justice Network of the Greater North Shore will present an informational program on elder abuse Tuesday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m., at the First Congregational Church. The program will include information about the different forms that elder abuse can take including physical, financial exploitation, emotional and self-neglect. The program will also provide information regarding the warning signs of elder abuse as well as ways to help if elder abuse is suspected.

There are calls for an independent inquiry into the body that inspects care homes in Wales after a BBC investigation showed some are repeatedly failing to meet basic standards.

The Week In Week Out ‘Who Cares in Wales’ programme looks at whether vulnerable elderly people’s rights are being protected by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW).

The owner of a care home in south Wales which was at the centre of the investigation failed in an attempt at the High Court to stop the programme from being broadcast.

The programme includes undercover filming at the home – which shows rules being breached repeatedly – with frail elderly people being lifted incorrectly, and the dignity of residents being compromised.

The Welsh Assembly Government says it is confident in the way the CSSIW carries out checks on care homes.

On Wednesday, it issued revised guidelines which it says will protect vulnerable adults.

But the chair of the assembly’s public accounts committee is calling for an independent inquiry.

This week’s topic is the Sexual Abuse of the Elderly in our campaign for SOS – Save our Seniors

There are signs to watch for. There are ways to identify sexual abuse.

Some of the signs to note are genital infections, also pain, bleeding or bruising in the genital area.

Another warning sign is inappropriate comments of a sexual nature from a caregiver or other person who spends time with the elderly person.

One other important thing that is a sign is evidence of some kind of restraint being used with this resident, for example, on extremities. Marks would be left on the body of the resident from the use of a restraint.

An incapacitated victim of elder abuse testified in court from a gurney last week at the sentencing hearing for the woman who had been her caretaker. Mabel Seabolt, 84, of Mitchell Valley, told the court she loved Stella Farmer “and could not understand what Farmer would be punished for,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Roy Evans’ office in a release late last week. Farmer, 45, of Atkins, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charge of abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in serious injury, and was convicted on Sept. 17, the release said. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jill Kinser Lawson prosecuted Farmer, who was defended by Michael Bishop of Abingdon.

The prosecutor said Farmer was caregiver for Seabolt “off and on for approximately one year and continuously for four to six weeks prior to Seabolt’s November 2008 admission to Smyth County Community Hospital.” The commonwealth’s evidence, presented at the conviction and sentencing hearings, included “extensive medical and photographic evidence of” Seabolt’s injuries. “Upon admission, Seabolt was in sepsis and renal failure and was severely dehydrated and malnourished,” the release said. “She had numerous bed sores, ranging from stage one to stage four, the most serious. She weighed only 76 pounds.” Seabolt “had been restrained for so long and in such a way that she lost the use of her feet and legs. According to one of her current nurses, Seabolt’s sores had completely healed after six months of treatment but she will never regain the use of her feet or legs,” the release said.

According to Virginia Department of Social Services statistics, 14,314 cases of elder and vulnerable adult abuse were reported in fiscal year 2008. Of these, social workers investigated 12,150 reports and substantiated 7,482.

When it comes to political, social or health causes, elder abuse has not had the star power of some other movements focusing on the rights of vulnerable people.

Last month, actress Nicole Kidman headlined a congressional hearing on violence against women, and stars of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” appeared at a Capitol Hill rally for child-abuse victims. An event sponsored by a coalition of elder abuse groups, meanwhile, featured ordinary senior citizens, recounting in sometimes aching detail how they or their loved ones had been physically and emotionally abused or financially exploited.

Committee on Aging, is a co-sponsor of the Elder Justice Act. (The median age of her constituents back home is also one of the highest in the nation.)

Supporters say elder abuse should be addressed in healthcare overhaul legislation because it pushes up healthcare costs and because financial exploitation of the elderly leaves many destitute and reliant on public assistance.

“This is prevention, which is a healthcare issue,” says Robert Blancato, who heads the Elder Justice Coalition, an umbrella group for more than 500 groups that support the legislation. They include AARP, the American Bar Assn., and industry groups representing nursing homes and long-term providers, among others.

United Way Provides Bridge Funding For Elder Abuse Prevention Program (ON. CANADA)

United Way provides bridge funding for elder abuse prevention program

November 24, 2009

BY NROCRC

The United Way has provided funding to keep the Nepean Rideau and Osgoode Community Resource Centre (NROCRC)’s elder abuse prevention and education program going.

“We came very close to having to shut this important program down next month,” says Howard Kravitz, NROCRC executive director. “The bridge funding from United Way allows us to go forward with the important services we currently provide, as well as breathing room to continue to explore stable long-term funding.”

Kravitz was informed that last Tuesday, Nov. 17 that the United Way Community Services Cabinet approved a sum of $10,811 to support the Elder Abuse Response and Referral Service (EARRS) at NROCRC.

The NROCRC sponsors the elder abuse prevention service for residents of Ottawa in collaboration with the Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre. EARRS provides assessment, case management, referral and linkage services to seniors dealing with physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. EARRS also provides information and referrals to friends, family members, service providers and anyone who is concerned about a senior.

A former certified nurse aide at Melrose’sEPOCH Senior Healthcarenursing home, who in August pled not guilty to charges that she punched and pushed down an 83-year-old resident of the nursing home who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, changed her plea last month and asked for the case to be continued without a finding, which the judge granted, according to the state attorney general’s office.

On Oct. 1 in Malden District Court, the judge also ordered Marie Michel 54, of Medford, to serve one year of probation with the condition that she not work with the elderly or disabled and that she not contact the victim or the victim’s family, according to Jill Butterworth, spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office.

Butterworth said that the state had been seeking a guilty plea with a one-year probation period that carries the same conditions imposed on Michel last month.

“As long as she abides by the terms of probation in the next year, this won’t be on her record,” she said, explaining the legal meaning of ‘continued without a finding’

Indian Government Urges States to Implement Old People’s Maintenance Act (INDIA)

The Indian government is forcing all its states to bring into immediate effect an act that will benefit older people. All the states, apart from six, have implemented the act.

According to D. Napoleon, India’s minister of state for social justice & empowerment, all the states and union territories excepting Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim have brought the Maintenance And Welfare of Parents And Senior Citizens Act, 2007 into force.

The remaining states have been urged to immediately notify and implement the Act.

The minister also informed that the Scheme for Integrated Programme for Older Persons that was revised in April 2008 will prioritize sensitizing programs for children in schools and colleges.

The government is also in the process of providing financial assistance to non governmental organizations to aid in the construction of old age homes and running and maintaining the same.

Mathew Cherian, CEO, HelpAge India says, “The government says that one old age home is to be maintained in every district. However, the funding is not enough to fulfill that criteria.”

Cherian also feels old age homes are not the solution. “The government should strengthen its pubic health system and sensitize children to look after their parents. Otherwise in a vast country like India, it is impossible to accommodate all the old people in old age homes,” Cherian says.

People over 65 years constitute 5.3% of the Indian population. This number is expected to grow to 170 million in the next 25 years. According to HelpAge India, 47.3% of elders are abused by their own children.

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act was passed in 2007 to protect the rights of the elderly. The Act makes it a punishable offense to abandon parents who are unable to maintain themselves.

However, as Cherian says, the law only talks about punishment. There should be instead a system of incentives. “Looking after the old can be expensive. The government should provide some kind of incentive in the form of maybe tax breaks to children who look after their parents to encourage them.”

He adds, “The law is against the very ethos of India. No parents will ever lodge a complaint against their children unless pushed to the extreme. So, it is not like atrocities do not hapen – but very few gets reported.”

Plan for Long Term Care… Now… or Else Fredrick Niemann, New Jersey Long Term Care Insurance Attorney “According to some sources, 60% of us will need long term care sometime during our lives. It is important for all of us to prepare for that day when we will need to help loved ones with elder care or we will need elder care for ourselves.” “It […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

ABUSE of vulnerable elderly and disabled people in Worcestershire has increased dramatically in the space of a year, according to a shocking new health report.

Figures show that there were 442 referrals of vulnerable adults to social care services in Worcestershire in 2009/09, a 72 per cent increase on the previous year when there were only 257 referrals which in turn increased from 97 referrals the year before that.

Sandra Rote, director of clinical development and executive nurse lead with NHS Worcestershire, said the rise should be seen positively as it showed that more people were reporting abuse so something could be done about it.

The Georgetown Senior Center is at the First Congregational Church on Andover Street. For more information about programs, call the Council on Aging office at 978-352-5726.

Elder abuse program Dec. 8:

The Elder Justice Network of the Greater North Shore will present an informational program on elder abuse Tuesday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m., at the First Congregational Church. The program will include information about the different forms that elder abuse can take including physical, financial exploitation, emotional and self-neglect. The program will also provide information regarding the warning signs of elder abuse as well as ways to help if elder abuse is suspected.

Nineteen-year-old Ashton Larson, one of the two young women charged with alleged elder abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea, is scheduled for a plea hearing Dec. 17 in Freeborn County District Court.

At this hearing, Larson will enter a plea for her charges, which include two counts of fifth-degree assault, five counts of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of disorderly conduct of a vulnerable adult and one count of mandatory failure to report.

The hearing will come a month after Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab issued a written order denying the motion made by Larson’s lawyer to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client for lack of probable cause.

In the order, he stated the case should be scheduled for trial by jury as early as possible.

Charges in the case came in December 2008 after an investigation into the allegations of abuse by local and Minnesota Department of Health officials; however, details of the allegations surfaced August 2008 after the release of the Department of Health’s report.

The report concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea from January through May 2008. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Co-defendant Brianna Broitzman pleaded not guilty to similar charges in August. Her jury trial has been scheduled for April 2010.

Larson’s hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 17.

The case once garnered national attention from media outlets such as NBC’s “Today,” The Associated Press and “Paul Harvey News and Comment.” The spotlight on the case likely will return at trial.

An incapacitated victim of elder abuse testified in court from a gurney last week at the sentencing hearing for the woman who had been her caretaker. Mabel Seabolt, 84, of Mitchell Valley, told the court she loved Stella Farmer “and could not understand what Farmer would be punished for,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Roy Evans’ office in a release late last week. Farmer, 45, of Atkins, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charge of abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in serious injury, and was convicted on Sept. 17, the release said. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jill Kinser Lawson prosecuted Farmer, who was defended by Michael Bishop of Abingdon.

The prosecutor said Farmer was caregiver for Seabolt “off and on for approximately one year and continuously for four to six weeks prior to Seabolt’s November 2008 admission to Smyth County Community Hospital.” The commonwealth’s evidence, presented at the conviction and sentencing hearings, included “extensive medical and photographic evidence of” Seabolt’s injuries. “Upon admission, Seabolt was in sepsis and renal failure and was severely dehydrated and malnourished,” the release said. “She had numerous bed sores, ranging from stage one to stage four, the most serious. She weighed only 76 pounds.” Seabolt “had been restrained for so long and in such a way that she lost the use of her feet and legs. According to one of her current nurses, Seabolt’s sores had completely healed after six months of treatment but she will never regain the use of her feet or legs,” the release said.

According to Virginia Department of Social Services statistics, 14,314 cases of elder and vulnerable adult abuse were reported in fiscal year 2008. Of these, social workers investigated 12,150 reports and substantiated 7,482.

Retirement Home Can Force Resident to Move to Higher Level of Care Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Elder Law Attorney A federal court has ruled that a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) can force one of its residents to move from her private apartment to an assisted living unit. Sally Herriot, 90, is a California resident of a CCRC which provides three levels of care — independent living, assisted […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Retirement Home Can Force Resident to Move to Higher Level of Care Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Elder Law Attorney A federal court has ruled that a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) can force one of its residents to move from her private apartment to an assisted living unit. Sally Herriot, 90, is a California resident of a CCRC which provides three levels of care — independent living, assisted […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Do You Have the Right Fiduciary for Your Estate? Warning: Your Decision Does Matter Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Estate Plan Attorney When creating an estate plan, especially in your will and/or trust, an important decision is who to name as your fiduciary. A fiduciary is a fancy legal term for the person who will take care of your property for you if you are unable […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Politically Correct Language is an Inappropriate Policy; Harassment Policy Violates Free Speech When a male graduate student pursuing a degree in military history was inclined to speak his mind in classroom discussions about women in combat and women in the military more generally, he felt inhibited by the university’s broadly worded policy on sexual harassment. In pertinent part, the policy stated that “all forms of sexual harassment are […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Plan for Long Term Care… Now… or Else Fredrick Niemann, New Jersey Long Term Care Insurance Attorney “According to some sources, 60% of us will need long term care sometime during our lives. It is important for all of us to prepare for that day when we will need to help loved ones with elder care or we will need elder care for ourselves.” “It […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Son Responsible For Mom?s Nursing Home Bill Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Asset Protection Attorney Many times the children of elderly clients ask whether they can be held responsible for Mom or Dad’s long term care costs. My answer always was that there wasn’t anything to worry about unless you take your parents money. That no longer appears to be the case. A recent […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Employers and Job References; the Dilemma There’s Hope in Immunity Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., Business Litigation Attorney Whether an employer-employee relationship ends on good terms or with acrimony, a common final act – the employee’s request for a reference for a new job – is increasingly leading to litigation. From the former employer’s standpoint, it can be a case of damned if you do and damned […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Assisted Living Facility Residents Can Lose Their Homes if Their Facility Stops Participating in Medicaid Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Medicaid Application Attorney Most people want to avoid nursing home care. Many people believe that assisted living provides them with something better: choice, control, independence, and safety in a “non-institutional, community-based setting.” What is not widely known is that the protections for nursing home residents provided by the federal Nursing Home […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

An incapacitated victim of elder abuse testified in court from a gurney last week at the sentencing hearing for the woman who had been her caretaker. Mabel Seabolt, 84, of Mitchell Valley, told the court she loved Stella Farmer “and could not understand what Farmer would be punished for,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Roy Evans’ office in a release late last week. Farmer, 45, of Atkins, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charge of abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in serious injury, and was convicted on Sept. 17, the release said. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jill Kinser Lawson prosecuted Farmer, who was defended by Michael Bishop of Abingdon.

The prosecutor said Farmer was caregiver for Seabolt “off and on for approximately one year and continuously for four to six weeks prior to Seabolt’s November 2008 admission to Smyth County Community Hospital.” The commonwealth’s evidence, presented at the conviction and sentencing hearings, included “extensive medical and photographic evidence of” Seabolt’s injuries. “Upon admission, Seabolt was in sepsis and renal failure and was severely dehydrated and malnourished,” the release said. “She had numerous bed sores, ranging from stage one to stage four, the most serious. She weighed only 76 pounds.” Seabolt “had been restrained for so long and in such a way that she lost the use of her feet and legs. According to one of her current nurses, Seabolt’s sores had completely healed after six months of treatment but she will never regain the use of her feet or legs,” the release said.

According to Virginia Department of Social Services statistics, 14,314 cases of elder and vulnerable adult abuse were reported in fiscal year 2008. Of these, social workers investigated 12,150 reports and substantiated 7,482.

A Carmel mother and daughter were found guilty Wednesday of elder abuse by Monterey County Superior Court Judge Terrance R. Duncan.

Lisa MacAdams, 53, and Christi Schoenbachler, 30, will be sentenced Jan. 15 and face a maximum penalty of four years and eight months in prison, officials said.

The victim is MacAdams’ mother – and Schoenbachler’s grandmother – and was abandoned at the Monterey Care Center after the pair took over all her finances, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said.

In 2002, when the victim was 72, she moved with her daughter to Monterey County, officials said. She had money from the sale of her mobile home, about $90,000, along with furniture, artwork and jewelry valued up to $200,000.

By July 2004, the victim’s bank account had been drained, officials said. Her annuity had been cashed out and all her personal possessions had been sold off.

Schoenbachler and MacAdams were charged with felony violations of grand theft and financial elder abuse by a caretaker. They were also charged with two misdemeanor counts of inflicting unjustifiable mental suffering on an elder for twice abandoning the victim in a residential facility

Nineteen-year-old Ashton Larson, one of the two young women charged with alleged elder abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea, is scheduled for a plea hearing Dec. 17 in Freeborn County District Court.

At this hearing, Larson will enter a plea for her charges, which include two counts of fifth-degree assault, five counts of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of disorderly conduct of a vulnerable adult and one count of mandatory failure to report.

The hearing will come a month after Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab issued a written order denying the motion made by Larson’s lawyer to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client for lack of probable cause.

In the order, he stated the case should be scheduled for trial by jury as early as possible.

Charges in the case came in December 2008 after an investigation into the allegations of abuse by local and Minnesota Department of Health officials; however, details of the allegations surfaced August 2008 after the release of the Department of Health’s report.

The report concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea from January through May 2008. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Co-defendant Brianna Broitzman pleaded not guilty to similar charges in August. Her jury trial has been scheduled for April 2010.

Larson’s hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 17.

The case once garnered national attention from media outlets such as NBC’s “Today,” The Associated Press and “Paul Harvey News and Comment.” The spotlight on the case likely will return at trial.

“Elders are neglected and ill-treated in almost all houses today,” said Vitthal Dalvi, a 73-year-old resident of BDD Chawl, Parel. “For elders who do not have a pension and are completely dependent on their children, the difficulties are even more.”

According to Alpa Desai, coordinator, the Family Welfare Agency, an NGO, almost 40% of senior citizens are abused in some way or the other — financial, emotional or physical — but only one in six cases comes to light. Hence the need was felt to launch a campaign against elder abuse.

Employers and Job References; the Dilemma There’s Hope in Immunity Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., Business Litigation Attorney Whether an employer-employee relationship ends on good terms or with acrimony, a common final act – the employee’s request for a reference for a new job – is increasingly leading to litigation. From the former employer’s standpoint, it can be a case of damned if you do and damned […] Source: hnlawfirm.com

Retirement Home Can Force Resident to Move to Higher Level of Care Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq., NJ Elder Law Attorney A federal court has ruled that a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) can force one of its residents to move from her private apartment to an assisted living unit. Sally Herriot, 90, is a California resident of a CCRC which provides three levels of care — independent living, assisted […] Source: hnlawfirm.com